In many rural and suburban areas, it has been known to place the receptacles for mail service along the roadside at a height from the ground and distance from the roadbed as directed by law or safe practice. Inherent with common mail receptacles and the standards therefor, is the requirement that the owners of such receptacles enter upon the roadway surface to retrieve the mail deposited therein. Such requirement is, of course, hazardous to such owners since it places them in a vulnerable position with respect to vehicles using the roadway.
Heretofore an approach to alleviate the problem just described has been the use of mail receptacles having dual doors. Such receptacles have, however, not been well received for numerous reasons including the inherent cost increase to provide a receptacle having such a convenience. Yet further, it has been found that often times the insertion of mail into one end of the receptacle forces the opening of the opposite end of the receptacle, thus allowing the same to be open to the elements.
A further problem incident with the common mail receptacle and standard therefor is that the receptacle is fixed with respect to the standard and there is no resiliency or relative movement allowed therebetween. Consequently, if such boxes are hit, for example, by thrown objects, the receptacle is often times irreparably damaged because no means are provided for allowing the receptacle to move with the force of impact, thus absorbing the energy and momentum of the missile.
In view of the foregoing, it is an object of the instant invention to provide a mailbox standard which allows access to the interior of the mail receptacle at any point above the standard.
Yet a further object of the invention is to provide a mailbox standard which provides for such access to the interior of the receptacle and wherein such receptacle can be a single doored unit.
Still another object of the invention is to provide a mailbox standard which allows the mail receptacle to take any position in a radial plane about the standard but which has a fixed return point at which such receptacle is normally positioned.
Another object of the invention is to provide a mailbox standard of such nature that the mailbox is movable with respect thereto and thus protected from projected missiles and the like.
Still a further object of the invention is to provide a mailbox standard which is inexpensive to construct, reliable and durable in operation, and readily constructed from state of the art elements.
These objects and other objects which will become apparent as a detailed description proceeds are achieved by: A mailbox standard comprising a vertical member for insertion into the ground; a rotatable member rotationally engaged with the vertical member; and a horizontal support member connected to said rotating member and securing a mailbox at the end thereof, the rotatable member being biased to maintain a predetermined position with respect to the vertical member in the absence of externally applied force.